A scientific panel that shaped the federal policy for testing the safety and effectiveness of painkillers was funded by big pharmaceutical companies that paid for the chance to affect the FDA’s thinking, according to emails obtained by a public-records request. A scientific panel that shaped the federal government’s policy for testing the safety and effectiveness of painkillers was funded by major pharmaceutical companies that paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the chance to affect the thinking of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to hundreds of emails obtained by a public-records request.